The Unbeatable
by Ax
Summary: Now that The One has been defeated, Crayak is more powerful than ever, and he still holds a grudge against the Animorphs. He also has some new tricks up his sleeve. Now the Animorphs must defeat his armies in order to make it back home.
1. Marco

A/N:  Here it is!  The first chapter of The Unbeatable!  And thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you sooooooooooooooooooooo much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I HAVE MY GOAL OF 261 REVIEWS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  IN FACT, I HAVE 275 REVIEWS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  *Faints from happiness*  Thank you soooooooooooooo much, I love you all.  I'm sooooooooooo happy.  I nearly died yesterday when I saw it.  Thank you!  Thank you!  THANK YOU!!!  For those of you who were wondering why I wanted 261 reviews, it was because the Anific that had the most reviews had 260 reviews.  Yes, that does mean that I now have the most reviews of any Anific on the site.  Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Disclaimer:  Are you kidding me?  I'm just a poor teen from Texas…  I A) would be richer if I owned Animorphs, B) would be named Katherine instead of Alexandra, B) would have this published, and C) don't have the money to buy Animorphs.  It all belongs to K. A. Applegate and Scholastic, unfortunately.  Unless, of course, they were to be nice and give it to me for my half-birthday coming up…  (Hey, it's the only holiday I can think of!  And it's not really a holiday, but oh, well.)  And you know what's really sad?  This coming Tuesday, May 14th, will be the memorial of the one-year anniversary since I read #54.  *Cries*  Can you believe that it has actually been that long?  Maybe Scholastic will give me Animorphs for that!  *Smiles dreamily, and is dragged off by the nice men in white jackets*

Book #57 – The Unbeatable

Chapter 1

            My name is Marco.  Marco the Magnificent, Marco the Animorph, Marco the Tallest, Funniest, Cutest Guy Ever.  All those names apply to me.

            Well, maybe not the part about me being tall, but you get the idea.

            But now, I give myself a new name.  Marco the Hater of Annoying All-Powerful Beings.

            Let me back up a bit.  The story began six and a half years ago, when I was at the mall with my best friend Jake.  There, we ran into another kid from school, Tobias, who Jake had stood up for a few months before when some bullies had tried to stick his head in the toilet.  We also ran into Jake's amazingly beautiful but amazingly psychotic cousin Rachel and her best bud Cassie.  We decided, very stupidly, to go home through the abandoned construction site nearby.  Usually we didn't go near there, because psycho killers and axe murderers hung out in it.  But we found out that our big danger that night actually came from the stars, in the form of parasitic slugs.  But now I'm getting ahead of myself again.

            As we went through the site, a spaceship crashed in front of us, and our lives changed forever.

            Pretty dramatic, huh?

            Anyway, out of the ship walked an alien.  An Andalite, to be exact.  He was dying from wounds he got in a battle in orbit.  As quickly as he could, he told us about the Yeerks, parasites from another planet, who wanted us.

            No, not our land, our resources, our ideas, but our bodies.  Our senses.

            You see, Yeerks in their natural states are nothing more than gray slugs.  However, they have the ability to creep into your ear and take over your body.  When you walked, it was the Yeerk moving your legs.  When you talked, the Yeerks moved your lips.  When you breathed, the Yeerk controlled how fast and how much and if you breathed at all.  On top of all that, they could read your memories like a book, and read your thoughts as you thought them.  Because of that, the Yeerks could pass you off as yourself, without anybody ever suspecting that an evil alien was buried in your brain.  And no one would ever suspect that it was that same alien that betrayed your family and friends, forcing them to become Controllers as well.  No one could hear you scream

            The Yeerks had an empire.  The completely conquered the Gedds, the Hork-Bajir, and the Taxxons.  There were a few Leeran Controllers, Garatron Controllers, and other species.  And there was one Andalite Controller, called Visser Three.  The Abomination.  Leader of the Yeerk invasion of Earth.

            Anyway, after the dying Andalite told us all that, he gave us a weapon to fight them.  He gave us the power to morph into any animal we touched.

            And then he made us run away.  We hid, and then saw the last few minutes of the Andalite's life.  We saw him eaten by Visser Three.

            You see, morphing is an Andalite technology.  And because Visser Three had an Andalite body, he could morph.  He had acquired monsters from all over the universe.  And with one of them, he ate the Andalite, Elfangor.

            After that, we fought the Yeerks for three years.  Soon into the fight, we were joined by Elfangor's little brother, Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill, also known as Ax.  Surprisingly, the six of us kids were able to inflict some major damage on the Yeerks.  Basically, we kicked butt.  Towards the end, we even managed to destroy their base on Earth, the Yeerk pool, where they fed.

            Three and a half years ago, we defeated the Yeerks, but at a terrible price.  Rachel was killed, after killing Jake's brother Tom, who was a Controller.  The ship that they had both died on, the Blade ship, got away with some renegade Yeerks.

            Jake spiraled into a horrible depression, and Tobias disappeared.  For them, life sucked.

            It wasn't nearly as bad for me, Cassie, and Ax.  Cassie started studying to become a veterinarian, something she had wanted to do all her life.  She was also helping out the president and the colony of free Hork-Bajir on Earth.

            Ax became a prince, in charge of his own ship _The Intrepid_.  He finally made it out of his brother's shadow.

            I became rich.  I had my own television series, and I dated beautiful girls who never would have even looked at me before.  I was able to do anything I wanted, and everybody knew me.

            All of us still missed Rachel and Tom though, as well as the missing Tobias and the old, happy Jake.

            But unless you've been living in some sort of hole for the past three and a half years, you already know that.  You already have heard all this, because everybody on earth knows it.  The new parts of this story only started not long ago.

            A little over six months ago, an Andalite name Menderash came to Jake, saying that he was the only known survivor of _The Intrepid_.  Ax had been kidnapped by the Blade ship, and brought into _Kelbrid _space.  The _Kelbrid _headed an empire in a nearby galaxy, and the Andalites and the _Kelbrid_ had a treaty saying no Andalite or Andalite ship could go into _Kelbrid _space, and vice versa.  The Andalites wanted Jake to go rescue Ax and prevent a intergalactic war, but they couldn't say that without breaking the treaty.

            Jake brought me, Tobias, Menderash in human morph, and two of his morphing students to rescue Ax.  We finally found him.  He had been absorbed by some all-powerful being called The One.  Absorbed, meaning he had taken over Ax's body and mind, torturing Ax day in and day out with old memories, twisted into unrecognizable nightmares.  We couldn't escape them, so we tried to destroy them by ramming the Blade ship.

            Right before we were about to hit it, it was vaporized by another ship's beam weapons.  Ax suddenly appeared in our own ship.  We met with the inhabitants of the other ship, and nearly died from the surprise of finding Rachel, Tom, Cassie, two of the people we knew from earth, and the son of Visser Three's host body on board.

            There had been a _Sario Rip_, or rip in the time-space continuum when Cassie decided to come rescue us, allowing her to go back in time and rescue Rachel and Tom.  

            Anyway, we tried to go home, but met up with some _Kelbrid_, also known as Garatron, who turned out to be distant relatives of the Andalites.  They had met The One, and were trying to kill us for bringing an Andalite ship, two Andalites, and an Andalite trapped in the morph of a human into their space.  They refused to listen to the fact that they were related to them.

            While trying to escape the Garatron, we met with my current girlfriend Sandra and a colony of Murkra, an alien race we thought had died out sixty-five million years ago with the dinosaurs.  Surprise, surprise.

            Turns out, the Garatron didn't like the Murkra, either.  They shot us down onto another planet, the Hork-Bajir homeworld.  The One began absorbing Hork-Bajir left and right, and Jake, being all noble and such, decided that we had no choice but to try and get rid of The One.  During a fight with the Garatron on our way to meet The One, Santorelli, one of Jake's students, was killed.  We finally met The One, and just as he was about to absorb us, Rachel and Tobias kissed, showing love.  Apparently, The One is so evil that love destroyed him, and so we were alright.

            But then, as we were about to start jumping up and down for joy, Drode, the helper of Crayak, appeared.

            During our battles with the Yeerks, we met two other all-powerful beings.  One of them, Ellimist, was good, and the other, Crayak, was evil.  They had a sort of chess game against each other for control of the galaxy.  Of course, they could never directly intervene with us mortals, even if they did so all the time.

            Drode said that The One had been the only thing keeping Crayak from becoming more powerful than Ellimist, and being able to expand into other galaxies and such.  So we were faced with a new, even more powerful evil all-powerful being taking over the universe.

            Now, let's just look at what all-powerful beings have done for us in the past, shall we?  The Ellimist has helped us a few times, but he also refused to bring Rachel back to life when he had the power to do it, he took Tobias' dad from him and erased Tobias' mom's memory, he confused us multiple times, and sent us into a nightmare world where we had to chase a Yeerk who had found the Time Matrix.  Long, complicated story, there.

            Crayak has tried to get Rachel to kill Jake, tortured Rachel mentally, tortured Jake mentally, tried to kill us with six members of the race he created for the simple reason of killing so that he could kill off the Iskoort, which are another alien race, helped the Ellimist send us to that nightmare world, and he's now trying to take over the universe.

            And finally, The One, who absorbed Ax, tried to absorb me and my friends, did absorb a bunch of Hork-Bajir, and betrayed Captain Bavaritun Larumian Hartar by absorbing a bunch of Garatron.

            None of them have been very nice to us.

            And that is why I, Marco, hate all-powerful beings.  They're just plain annoying.


	2. Marco

A/N:  Okay, I'm SO SORRY that I haven't posted in forever, but I do have some good excuses!  (kinda)  First, my main computer is broken, so I've had to use my mom's, which crashes every fifteen minutes, literally.  Second, I've been upset due to the fact that I celebrated both the one-year anniversary since I read the last Animorphs book and the four-year anniversary since my family moved to Texas.  I have also been slightly sick, and had a touch of writer's block, and I had finals, the source of all evil in the world!!!!  I should be able to get this up soon, though, because yesterday (5/28) was my last day of school, and now I'm FREE!!!!!!!!  I have some minor surgery next Tuesday, so I may take a little longer to post the next chapter then, but this should go up soon.  I'm just rambling now, so I'll get to my next point, and then let you read the chapter.  Well, now for some  shameless advertising my friends asked me to do…  Read these awesome authors' work: fearlessness, Graceful Blondie, phennphenn, quackingduk, The Excessively Loud Waterfowl, Hanni B, morpherkidvb, gwenalyn, The Wandering Blue Andalite, Ami of Destiny, angelofcloud9, Cassie the Crazy Band Child, lillybell04, divel-17, Aidyn Elcrom, Peacockgirl, Angel of Drama, Marco's Andalite Princess, pottergirl, GinnyWPotter, mickEmousina, Lady Lupin, Phoenix Sol, Chibi Chang, Everlasting Fire, and many others that I'm sure I'm forgetting…  I'll add them later…

Chapter 2

            "No, that's not good, genius," Rachel said sarcastically, replying to my remark that Crayak being more powerful than before was not good.

            Rachel, although she was tall, blonde, and beautiful, had a bad attitude.  Out of all of us, she had probably changed the most during the war.  When she began to fight, it was like some secret version of her psyche came out.  She became some sort of Xena: Warrior Princess.  Rachel was crazy, reckless, and when needed, remorseless.  Ever since she had been rescued from her future death during the _Sario Rip_, she had been much better, but her irritability still showed pretty often.

            We all shifted in an uncomfortable silence for a moment or two, unsure of what the Drode's announcement would really mean.

            "I'll check up top," Tobias finally said, demorphing.

            He used to be kind of a dweeb, I guess, with shaggy blonde hair and these dreamy blue eyes.  The key words there were "used to be".  During our first battle, Tobias became our first casualty of war.  You see, if you stay in morph for over two hours, you get stuck in that morph.  Forever.  Tobias' new normal form was that of a red-tailed hawk.  Through some nifty tricks of the Ellimist, Tobias regained his morphing power and the ability to morph back into his old human form for two hours at a time, but it was still just a morph.

            As brown, white, and red feathers etched themselves across Tobias' skin, we all started talking at once.

            "Who was he?  What did he mean?" Jeanne, the other one of Jake's students asked.  She was smart, witty, and beautiful.  About two years older than me, Jake, Tobias, and Cassie.

            "How can we kick his butt?"  Rachel, of course.

            Nothing up here, came Tobias' voice from the sky.

            "So do you guys know that thing?" said Tom, Jake's brother.

            "This is not good," muttered Toby thoughtfully.  Toby was a Hork-Bajir seer.  Normally, Hork-Bajir are not exactly the sharpest tools in the shed, but Toby was the exception.  She was actually about as smart as an Andalite, and some people ever rumored her to have the gift of being able to see the future.  Back on earth, she was leader of the Hork-Bajir colony and a silent observer of Congress.  She had been named after Tobias, who the free Hork-Bajir saw as their liberator.  That's another long story.

            "What exactly did the Ellimist say again?" Jake prodded of Cassie.  Jake, my best friend since I can remember, has brown hair, brown eyes, and the build of a football player.  

            Prince Jake, I am sorry, Ax said quietly.  Ax, brother of Elfangor and one of my friends, was an Andalite, and Tobias' uncle.  Andalites look like some sort of cross between a scorpion, a large deer, and a human.  They have a human torso, the body of a deer, and a scorpion-like, deadly tail.  Ax, besides being sometimes annoying due to his tendency to play with sounds and go crazy around food when in human morph, is brilliant, honorable, and a great guy to have on your side in a fight.

            "You know, this is actually kind of funny," I said, smirking.  "I mean, is there some sort of award for whichever all-powerful pain-in-the-butt kills us first?"

            Who is this Crayak? Captain Miaker, leader of the Murkra asked.  He looked like a large, lopsided, multi-colored crab with eyes that randomly opened and closed all over his exoskeleton.  The Murkra were descendents of a race whose planet was drawn into a black hole and destroyed.  Limited numbers escaped to form new colonies around the universe.  One of the groups colonized Earth, but was destroyed sixty-five million years ago at the same time as the dinosaurs.  This group had lived in their spaceship for the past few million years, for the most part staying frozen.  After we unknowingly bought their ship, we had been working with them against The One and his Garatron minions.  The Garatron and the Murkra had a little… history.

            "He's like The One, but now probably hundreds of times more dangerous," Cassie explained.  Another one of the original six Animorphs, Cassie was probably the kindest and most caring of all of us.  She and Jake had a little thing for each other.

            "Wait a second, wait a second!" Jake called.  "One at a time.  We're not getting anywhere.  First, what exactly did Ellimist say?"

            Cassie was quiet for a moment, but finally said, "'The six of your fates are entwined for all time; five of you are not whole without the sixth.  What you did may not have been good, but it was needed.'  He was talking about me rescuing Rachel."

            "Well, that makes sense," I commented.  "Don't we feel lucky.  Okay, so you brought Rachel back.  Which was needed for some reason or another.  I assume that it was needed so that whatever was going to happen would happen.  And considering the fact that she and Tobias, uh, played a direct part in getting rid of The One, she was probably 'needed' for that.  Unless Jake and Cassie were about to get all lovey-dovey on us."

            Both Jake and Cassie glowed red for a moment, and Jake turned so he wasn't looking at me, mumbling something about how hard it was to find good best friends these days.  I just laughed.  What can I say?  The boy gets too serious sometimes, and needs me to say something to bring him back to reality.

            You can't trust Ellimist, Ax warned.  This time, I almost agreed with him.  I was just plain sick of him, Crayak, The One, and any other all-powerful beings we didn't know about.

            "Okay, so that works," Rachel said, breaking the silence.  "But is there anything you can get from what he said about Crayak becoming more powerful, O Wise and Powerful Marco?"  Her voice was dripping with sarcasm.

            "She wants me," I stage-whispered to Tom.

            Rachel snorted, and Tobias came back down from the canopy to land on her shoulder.

            Nothing up top, Tobias repeated.

            One by one, we all looked at Jake.  At first he didn't say anything, but then he slumped and ran one hand through his hair, one of his little things he does when he's stressed.

            "Listen, I don't know any more than you do, all I know is that Crayak has a bad attitude and has it in for me.  And the rest of you.  I don't think he was very happy with Rachel's decision when he came to her…"  Cassie and Jake shared a dark look, and his gaze flickered over to Rachel for a split second.  "Anyway, any and all ideas you have are welcome.  This is a democracy, not an monarchy."

            Jeanne grinned.  "But Professor, I seem to remember you telling me and Santor–" she cut off before she could say the name of Jake's other student, who had been killed.  "I seem to remember you telling me that you would be in charge, and I would be a low woman on the totem pole."

            "Yeah, well…" Jake said, hiding a laugh.

            "Oooh, not good!" I crowed.  "Jake, Mr. I-Don't-Want-To-Be-Leader told them that he was in charge?  Tut, tut, tut."

            "Shut up, Marco," remarked Rachel in a laughing voice.

            Good.  I had people laughing again.  God knew we were going to need it.

            "Before we do anything, we need to get back to General Doubleday, Sandra, Guide, Menderash, and the other Murkra," said Cassie.

            The ship, as well, added Yahal, another Andalite, the son of Visser Three's host body.

            "I must check on my people," Toby said, lifting her head.

            "How many do you think were absorbed?" Cassie quietly asked.

            "Too many," Toby responded in almost a whisper.

            There went my wonderful plan to have them laughing again.

            Twenty-twobladedmonsters,Hork-Bajir,asTheOnecalledthem, said a new voice.  It was too fast to be an Andalite or Tobias.  It had to be a Garatron.

            We whipped around, and before she even saw where the voice was coming from, Rachel started her grizzly morph.  Firepower didn't sound like such a bad idea at that moment.

            With two leaps, Ax made it to the source of the voice, and whipped his tail to its throat.  It was Captain Bavaritun Larumian Hartar, leader of the Garatron, beaten and bloodied by The One, and having just woken up after The One knocked him unconscious.

            Yahal joined Ax, keeping his tail blade quivering above the Captain's own tail.

            I am sorry for before, Prince Jake, Ax said.

            "Wait a second, what?"

            I was scared and wanted to run, before, and I will not do that now.

            I slapped my hand to my forehead.  "Ax-man, you're not still on that, are you?"

            Ax's tail pressed even closer to Captain Bavaritun Larumian Hartar's neck, and a thin line of bluish blood started to seep out.  The Captain looked terrified.

            Please,IwastrickedbyTheOne,IneversuspectedthatTheOnewasgoingtoturnagainstus. Ididnotknowhowevilheis. Whereishe? Please,mypeople,theonlyGaratroninthisgalaxy,havebeendestroyed. Youcametofightthethingthatkilledthem. Iwouldliketohelpyounow.

            "The enemy of my enemy is my friend," Tom quoted.

            My mind shot off in a million ways at once.  Yes, Captain Bavaritun Larumian Hartar had fought The One when he attacked the other Garatron, but he had also attacked us.  Then again, he had nearly listened to Cassie during the battle when Santorelli was killed, until Rachel jumped the Garatron she had been battling until Cassie and the Captain started talking.

            Ax locked his main eyes with Jake, and the rest of us continued to stare at Captain Bavaritun Larumian Hartar's quivering form.

            What should I do, Prince Jake?

A/N:  Yay!!!  I'm finally finished!!!  I'll go post now.  Also, just warning you, but I may not be able to post as often as I would like this summer starting in July because I'm leaving on vacation, and won't have internet access very often.  I will have my computer with me, so I will be able to write, and I'll post when I can, and post multiple chapters if I have to, but it may not be very often.  Sorry!  Now, reviews are appreciated!  *grins*


	3. Jake

A/N:  Hi everybody!  Sorry it's been awhile since I've updated, but there was the whole thing with FFN going down, and I've just had inspiration for a bunch of different stories…  I've written two new songfics, as well as posted the prologue of a new original story and started working on the first chapter, and updated two other stories.  At this point in time, I'm working on four long-running stories, and any other random idea that pops into my head.  (Please read the other stories!  They are Both Sun and Moon, an original fantasy story; The American Animagi, a Harry Potter/Animorphs crossover insanity fic, where the characters have to complete a bunch of random tasks and competitions in order for things to happen; and Hope Rising, the only story posted on my other penname Marco's Andalite Princess, which is about a girl's life and how she tries to fit in.)  Anyway, about my surgery, it went really well.  It was on my nose, since I broke it about five years ago and haven't been able to breathe through it since.  They put me to sleep before they even stuck the IV in me, so I didn't feel a thing.  When I went under, I was laughing hysterically and talking about Minnesota.  And guess what!  I can breathe now!  The swelling and bruising are almost gone!  My nose is pretty again!  (After I broke it, the cartilage basically started falling off the bone, creating a big bump.  My nose also shifted slightly to the side.  It wasn't that big of a deal, but I was self-conscious about it.)  So anyway, it went well, thanks for all your concern.  Now, I know you only really care about reading the fic, so…  Here it is!

Disclaimer:  I realized that I forgot to put one at the beginning of the story, so here it is now.  Unfortunately, I don't own Animorphs.  K. A. Applegate, the brilliant sci-fi goddess, does.  However, any time she feels like giving me the series, that would be great.  I would publish this trilogy!

Chapter 3

            "Hold it, Ax," Cassie warned.  Ax pulled his tail away from Captain Bavaritun Larumian Hartar's jugular by about a nanometer.  

            I studied the Captain's face.  His eyes, all three of them, held true fear.  Fear, and something else.  Embarrassment?  Anger?

            His main eyes locked with mine, pleading.

            Captain Miaker and the other Murkra watched both me and Captain Bavaritun Larumian Hartar with unnatural intensity.

            Ax and Yahal were quivering with pent up energy, but they were also looking at each other, as if they were disgusted by what they might do.

            Marco's gaze was locked on the Garatron, but I could tell he was not actually looking at anything.

            Everybody else was simply looking back and forth from Captain Bavaritun Larumian Hartar to me to Ax and Yahal and back to Captain Bavaritun Larumian Hartar.

            There was another moment of tense silence.

            "Ax," I finally said, "let him go."

            An audible sigh resounded through the air.  I'm still not sure whether it was me or somebody else who did it.

            Ax nodded almost imperceptively at Yahal, and they both whipped their tails away.  Ax reached out one weak hand to the Garatron, and Captain Bavaritun Larumian Hartar grabbed it.  He shakily stood up.

            WhereisTheOne? Whyishenothere? he asked.

            Everybody shifted uncomfortably.  We really did not feel like discussing all-powerful beings at the moment.

            Finally, Rachel answered, having already reversed her grizzly morph so that she was human again, "He's dead."

            Marco, in a new attempt to make everyone laugh, jumped in, expanding on Rachel's words.  "He croaked!  Expired.  Bit the dirt.  Went to the Happy Hunting Grounds.  Is in God's care.  Passed away.  Keeled over.  Became one of the dearly departed.  Breathed his last breath.  Kicked the bucket.  Went to meet his maker.  In other words, está muerto."

            Rachel looked at him oddly.  "Whatever happened to you saying you didn't speak Spanish?"

            "I never said I couldn't say a few words.  For example, I can say, 'La cabra larga y estampada está en los nubes, y a ella le gusta esquiar en tu naríz.'"

            We all blinked and looked at him.

            "Marco, would you mind telling us what that meant?" I asked.

            "I, uh…  Actually, I don't know," Marco responded.  Rachel started laughing.

            I wondered what sort of impression we were making on Captain Bavaritun Larumian Hartar.  The poor guy had just seen all his comrades killed, probably had a huge headache from the bump The One had given him, and now the people he had offered help to were acting like psychos.

            Humans, Ax snorted.  Why do you have so many languages?  Anyway, I was able to understand what Marco said.  He stated that the large and patterned goat is in the clouds, and she likes to ski in your nose.

            Now we all stared oddly at Marco.  

He grinned sheepishly.  "I also never said that I understood the few words I could say."

Rachel rolled her eyes at Marco.  This was just great.  The last thing we needed right now was a battle between Xena: Warrior Princess and Curious George.

I saw Cassie watching me, judging what I would do.

"Okay," I said, cutting in before Rachel could say a snide remark.  A small smile played on Cassie's lips as I continued.  She saw right through my ploy.  "Anyway, Captain Bavaritun Larumian Hartar–"

YoumaycallmeBavaritun, he cut in.

"Oh.  Uh, thanks.  Anyway, after The One was destroyed, we got a message from another, uh, acquaintance of ours.  His name is Crayak.  He was as powerful as The One, but now that The One is gone, he is free to expand.  If we don't do something, with his new powers, he'll destroy the universe."

I didn't mean to sound that dramatic, but hey, it worked.

"Duh, duh, duh," Marco sang ominously, very off-key and loudly.

"For the past few millennia, he has been caught up in a game of skill and wit in our galaxy with a creature called Ellimist.  Ellimist is supposedly good, and Crayak is evil.  Apparently, Crayak came into our galaxy millions of years ago when he was chased out of your galaxy by The One," I explained.  "When The One was destroyed, Crayak sensed that now was his chance to take back what he lost so long ago.  With these new chances at power, he'll grow beyond anything that the Ellimist can control, and destroy both of our universes."

Marco caught my eye and grinned, silently mouthing something.  I realized that he was translating my speech to convince Bavaritun that we were good and needed his help into Marco-ese.

Captain Bavaritun lowered all three of his remaining eyes, and bent painfully to his knees in a sort of half-bow.  Jake,youavengedthedeathofmyshipmates,andsonowIpromisetohelpyouinanywaypossible. IwilltrytohelpdestroyCrayakandgrantyouuseofmyship,asIcannotflyitalone. IonlyaskthatIamreturnedsafelytomyplanetafterCrayakisdefeated. However,Irefusetoflywiththem, he said, pointing one of his many-fingered hands at Captain Miaker, Raikon, and Leenear.

We never did anything to you, Captain Miaker hissed, snapping his claw.  The two other Murkra moved to flank him, trying to look as threatening as a giant crab with too many eyes could.

Everybody else shifted nervously, instinctively anticipating a fight.

Cassie took a deep breath, jutted her chin out determinedly, and marched right in between the Murkra and Captain Bavaritun.

"Look," she said, almost shouting.  Cassie never shouts.  "It was the Murkra's ancestors that took your ancestors from the Andalite homeworld, Captain Bavaritun.  It's ancient history.  Can't you just forget about it, and make peace?"

Donotdiscusswhatyoudonotunderstand,personfromAndalitespace. TheMurkratookmypeoplefromparadise. Howcanyounotexpectmetobeangry?

Cassie laughed, but it held no humor.  "No, I understand," she said.  "I understand hatred going back years and years for things your descendents did.  And I also understand that the Murkra did not take you from paradise.  They took you from a different planet that has plenty of problems of its own.  Ax and Yahal," she said, pointing at the two Andalites, "live there usually.  They are your cousins, both of you evolved from a common ancestor.  I understand perfectly.  And you, all four of you, need to snap out of it," she continued, addressing both the Garatron and the Murkra.

We were all silent for a moment, shocked by this new side of Cassie.  I grinned at her, and she looked at me, her face still cross, but she was obviously pleased with herself.

Finally, after one long minute of silence, Tom started clapping.  Marco joined in, and then so did everybody else.  The moment of tension was broken.

"Go Cassie!" Marco cheered.  "Watch out, Rachel, or else pretty soon you'll have to fight for your title as Xena.  Actually, forget that.  Have the fight.  Both of you dressed as Xena."

The second we heard the last sentence of Marco's oration, Cassie, Rachel, Tobias, and I all jumped toward Marco.  He cringed.

"Please don't hurt me.  I didn't mean it.  I'd much rather see Sandra like that, anyway…"

"You know, Marco, you're just digging yourself into a deeper hole.  I'm about this close to morphing grizzly and taking you out," Rachel said very calmly.  "Unless I decide to go elephant and stomp you to death.  Or perhaps Hork-Bajir.  Do you have any preference as to how you would like to die, Marco?"

The conversation continued as we grouped together and started the long trudge back to the Hork-Bajir camp and our other friends.  Yahal and Captain Bavaritun even started to talk.  However, I noticed that the Murkra and Bavaritun stayed as far away from each other as possible.  Only Toby remained aloof, brooding in her own thoughts, until Indi and the other Hork-Bajir started following us again.  Then, she hung back until she could travel with them.

"I really would like to live, Rachel."

"Well, that really is too bad for you, isn't it, Marco?  You should have thought about that before you started talking about Cassie, Sandra, and me dressed in leather."

"Please don't kill me.  Jake said it himself, we need everybody we can get."

"I think he would like to kill you now, too, for mentioning Cassie, wouldn't you, Cuz?"

"Yup."

"Man…  And I thought you were my friend."

"Prepare to die, Buddy."


	4. Tobias

A/N:  WHY IS FFN BEING SO STUPID???  Okay, yeah, now that I have that out…  I'm on vacation now, so I won't be updating as often.  However, I will update whenever I can.  And to ____, I explained at the beginning of The Carried that the Murkra evolved from the Mercora, and though they are almost totally identical, the name has changed slightly.  The relationship between the Murkra and the Mercora is like the relationship between us and the people of the Middle Ages – genetically almost identical, but we speak different languages, have different customs, etc.  So yeah.  Oh, and I have discovered that another one of my friends is an FFN writer!  Go read her stuff, her penname is Olympian.  Anyway, here's the chapter.

Chapter 4

            We finally made it back to the camp where we had left the rest of the Murkra, General Doubleday, Menderash, Sandra, and Guide.  We were beaten, bloody, tired, and dirty, a pretty pathetic group.  However, our friends were overjoyed to see us.          

            Sandra ran out to meet us the second she saw us, hugging Marco first, and then hugging everybody else for a shorter amount of time.  She was both laughing and crying, running around with boundless energy.

            The General came to us more slowly, but once we met, he cracked a grin and slapped Jake on the back, nearly knocking him off his feet and onto the ground.  General Doubleday also greeted Yahal, 

            Menderash stayed back at the camp, waiting for us to come to him.  However, when we finally got there, he smiled.  He didn't use his mouth, and for a moment, I swore that he had managed to smile the subtle Andalite grin with his eyes, even though he was in a human body.

            "You are alive, my Princes," he said to both Jake and Ax, lowering his head.

            The Murkra greeted their leader and his lieutenants in their own way, opening many eyes at once and blinking rapidly.  From the way they gathered together to form their own group, I guessed that they were discussing the events of the past two days in private thought-speak.  For the most part, they ignored us.

            Guide shuffled to us, and after eyeing us to make certain that we were ourselves, asked if he could buy whatever memories we had made of the last couple of days when he went back to his own world and had a memory copier.

            Toby followed Indi and the other Hork-Bajir warriors to the main Hork-Bajir settlement to tell them about what had happened.

            I landed on Rachel's shoulder while we greeted everybody, exhausted from flying so far.  Most of the time we had been walking, it had been night, and there were no thermals coming up off of the cliff walls.  I had been navigating dead air the whole way.

            When at last Menderash, General Doubleday, Sandra, and Guide had finished assuring themselves that we were alive, we sat down near the group of Murkra.  The non-morphing humans and Guide had many questions that needed to be answered.  They had started to notice the changes in our group.

            Before we could say anything, Menderash cut us off.  "What is _he _doing here?" he spat, gesturing toward the fatigued, bleeding, and quiet Bavaritun.

            "And what happened to The One?  Did you find him?  Where is he?" demanded Sandra.

            "Where's Sergeant Santorelli?" General Doubleday asked, his voice quiet.  I had a feeling that he already knew the answer.

            They looked at Jake expectantly, their eyes wide with fear.

            "Did your filthy master absorb him?" Menderash demanded of Bavaritun.

            "No, The One did not absorb Sergeant Santorelli," Jake cut in before some sort of fight broke out.  "On our way to find The One, there was a battle with many Garatron.  Sergeant Santorelli was killed."

            General Doubleday immediately lowered his head, his fears confirmed.  Sandra's face twisted in horror, and Menderash's eyes grew wide, and then he glared at Bavaritun.  The only thing keeping him from attacking the wounded alien was the fact that Bavaritun had a lightning-fast, scorpion-like tail, and Menderash didn't.

            Hey, it's okay, just calm down for a second, I said to Menderash in private thought-speak.  He looked at me and nodded almost imperceptively to show that he understood, but he was still bristling with tension.

            "We did finally find The One, right after he betrayed all of the Garatron by absorbing them," Jake continued.

            But he did not absorb Captain Bavaritun, Ax added somewhat helpfully.

            "Right.  Anyway, then there was a short battle between us and The One.  Right when we thought were going to die, Tobias and Ra-"

            Rachel cut Jake off in midword, her cheeks red.  I was sure that if I was human, I would look the same way.  "What Jake was going to say was that we were lucky and destroyed him!  Yeah.  We were about to die, and suddenly he just disappeared."

            Marco started laughing hysterically, delighted that he had a chance to embarrass me and Rachel.  "What she means is that she and Tobias had a little make out session, and after they went 'smooch,' The One was defeated by their love.  Isn't that sweet?"

            I shifted uncomfortably on Rachel's shoulder.  Why was it that _everybody _had to know what had happened to destroy The One?

Rachel's face looked like a beet.  "Yes, that's exactly what happened," Rachel said with a steel edge to her voice.  "Marco, I still haven't forgotten what you said about me, Cassie, and Sandra, either.  You really shouldn't have told everybody what you told them just now."

            "What did he say about me?" Sandra demanded.

            "Oh…" Marco said, backing away from Rachel.  "I really am sorry…"  With that, he sprinted toward Cassie, holding her in front of him for protection.  "Help me," he squeaked.

            "Uh-uh.  No.  I don't think so," she responded, twisting out of his grip.  "I agree with Rachel."

            "What did he say about me?" repeated Sandra.

            "I'll tell you when you're a bit older," Rachel assured her with a grin, but at the same time, Ax said, Marco stated that he wanted to see you dressed up like Xena.

            Sandra's eyes grew wide, and her jaw dropped open.  She was definitely not pleased.

            Marco groaned, looking at Ax like he wanted to both instruct him on why that sounded extremely bad out of context, and also strangle Ax.  Not necessarily in that order.

            Jake, in a lame attempt to put some order into the chaos and save his best friend's face said, "Anyway, after we destroyed The One, Drode came to us to tell us that now Crayak can expand, which is really not good.  Uh, Crayak is an all-powerful being who likes to destroy everything.  If he takes over the universe, everybody dies.  Period.  Then Bavaritun woke up, said that he wanted to join with us, and we came here."

            "We can trust him?" Menderash asked hesitantly.

            Yes, Ax answered, still oblivious to the daggers Marco was staring at him.

            Areyoualwaysthisdisordered? asked Bavaritun doubtfully.

            Rachel laughed harshly.  "Welcome to the life of being an Animorph."

            Isee, Bavaritun said, obviously not understanding at all.

            "You get used to it," Tom said cheerily.

            "It may take a while," added Jeanne, "because there are some people in our little group with less sanity than others.  But it will happen eventually."

            Captain Miaker finally came back to our group of mostly Andalites and humans, having just been on the ship.  I noticed that he remained as far away from Bavaritun as possible.  My technicians need only another day to repair the ship of the damage that the Garatron inflicted before we leave, he reported, opening many of the eyes on the side of him facing Bavaritun when he said "Garatron".

            "Fine," Jake said, choosing to ignore the subtle challenge to the Garatron.  "We have some time to kill, everybody, so go ahead and do whatever.  Don't go to far, we don't want you to be eaten by a Jubba-Jubba monster."

            We broke formation, the majority of us who had been there to destroy The One trying to find a stream or something to clean up in and then rest, and everybody else sitting in little groups, chatting.  The scene of Sandra avoiding Marco, running from Marco, and ignoring Marco caught my eye, and I made up my mind to explain to Ax why what he had said was so bad, and then tell Sandra the context of the situation.

            I'll be right back, I told Rachel, spreading my wings and taking off from her shoulder.

            "Where are you going?" she questioned.

            I need to go find Ax.

A/N:  Hehe, poor Marco…  I love teasing him so much, it's almost sad.  Anyway, sorry I don't have more to post than this, but lately I have had a ton of inspiration on my new original fantasy story Both Sun and Moon (I've written four new chapters in the past week, and learned a lot more about where that story is going), and barely any on this one.  Also, the more I think about the idea I was going to use on this book, the more convinced I become that it sucks.  Anyway, because of that, I need to brainstorm and come up with another idea, one that I can fit in some details that I've already put into the story that were going to work for the original idea.  Hopefully it won't take me too long!  :-P  I do, however, know what's going to happen in the next few chapters, so I'll be working on those.  And finally, because I am on vacation and am separated from all my wonderful Animorphs books, I don't have a description that I need…  If any of you could _please _go find your Ellimist Chronicles for me and, in a review or email, give me the description of Crayak _before _he followed Ellimist through the black hole, Z-Space, and regular space to become the four-dimensional being he now is, I would be eternally grateful.  Thank you!


	5. Cassie

A/N:  I know.  I know!  I'm horrible.  I should be ashamed.  I should be thrown into the deepest, most fiery pits of hell.  I had all summer to work, but I haven't posted since July.  I have excuses, and I'll tell them to you, even though I know that they're bad.  First of all, I think that my muse for this story has gone on a permanent vacation.  To take his place, a new muse came along with ideas for my original novel (Both Sun and Moon).  I have been working on that like a maniac, and I am working on the twentieth chapter.  I stopped posting them, however, because I hope to get it published when I finish.  And isn't it just so much easier to work on a story you have inspiration for than one you don't?  However, I think that I may have a sketchy (very sketchy) idea of what I want to do now.  Also, I just started my junior year.  I have sooo much work to do, it's not even funny!  Every time I turn around, I have another project, paper, or test to work on.  On top of that, I have the PSATs coming up in a few more weeks.  I also made a lead part in the play Dark of the Moon.  I am now going to have practice for a good two and a half hours after school every day.  You add that to my already existing extracurricular activities (Sci-Fi Club, Poetry Club, Literary Magazine, Bibliophiles Club, Bonsai Club, two different choirs, voice lessons, and pretty soon, I'll be volunteering at an animal shelter and taking gymnastics) and you have one VERY busy fanfic writer who has no time whatsoever for writing.  It makes me sad.  But I guess it's the life I've chosen…  *sighs dramatically*  lol.  Anyway, the reason that I've finally started working on this is because so many of you have been screaming at me to get moving (for those of you who left the anonymous reviews, you really didn't have to leave them anonymous – I totally agree with you.  I have been lazy, and I did need to get moving.  You didn't need to leave the anonymous because you thought that I would be mad or whatever.  I give you kudos for being nice enough to give me the pressure I needed to work.) and because last Wednesday (9/25) was my friend Shawna's birthday.  She was one of my first fans.  Now, two things about this trilogy:  1)  I recently got my three hundredth review on The Carried!!!!  Thank you so much!!!!!  It means a whole lot to me!!!!!  And, 2)  September 2nd was the one-year anniversary since I had the idea for The Contact, wrote the first and second chapters, and posted them.  Happy birthday to this trilogy!  Yay!  So yeah.  This chapter is dedicated to Shawna, since it's kind of a belated birthday present, and all of my wonderful readers!

Chapter 5

            The night had been uneventful, and after I woke up, I was happy to see that Marco and Sandra seemed to have made up.  I thought that the little talk that I saw Rachel having with Sandra and Tobias having with Ax before I feel asleep might have been the reason.

            The Murkra had continued to work on their ship throughout the night, though they were becoming increasingly annoyed by Guide's constant pleas to buy this or that part.  Captain Miaker had told Jake not long ago that we would be able to leave in only a few hours.

            All of us, the humans and Andalites, had amused ourselves by chatting in small groups or discussing our not-a-plan to fight Crayak.  We did not even know where we would find him.  Ax, with help from all the rest of us, had been filling Bavaritun in on who we were and what we wanted, as well as learning more about him and his culture.

            Toby was the only one who had not been mingling with us like she would have on earth.  She had spent all of her time with the Hork-Bajir, looking at their camp, talking with them, learning about how they lived on a Yeerk-free world.  I had the creeping suspicion that something was going on with her.

            Finally, Captain Miaker approached Jake, telling him that the ship was ready to leave as soon as everybody was set.

            We gathered our group, bidding goodbye to the Hork-Bajir as we stepped onto the ship.  Soon, all of us were aboard, except for one.  Toby.

            She stood by the ship with Indi and his group of Hork-Bajir.  When it was her turn to come onto the ship, she stayed put.

            All of us, the Animorphs, those of us who knew her the best, went to ask her what was going on.  I had already suspected that something like this might happen.

            "When I was here with you so many years ago," she told us in the guttural voice of the Hork-Bajir, "you and Grandmother Aldrea tricked me into going back to earth.  My place was there, then.  My people on Earth now have Jark, my son, to lead them.  My people here have no seer.  I can guide them until the day that they produce one of their own to show the new way."  In her speech, she gave a rare display of emotion.  She would miss her family and friends on earth, but they no longer needed her.  Her new place was here.

            Are you certain, Toby? Ax asked.  After we leave, there will be no chance for you to return for a long time.  Perhaps never.

            "I took that chance when I left with Cassie," she said.

            I nodded at her, giving what encouragement I could.  I had shared a body with Toby's great-grandmother, and I felt that I understood her more because of that.  She had wanted to stay before, to build the new civilization.  However, she had been needed on Earth to fight the Yeerks.  Now, the Yeerk threat was gone, and she had another chance to help her people in her homeland.

            "Aldrea would be proud," I told her, trying to smile.

            She met my gaze, her eyes steady.  Her face broke into the fierce Hork-Bajir smile, though it was sad.

            "Toby is different.  Toby helps Hork-Bajir," Indi added.

            Yes, Tobias said quietly.  Toby helps the Hork-Bajir.  You are lucky that she is going to stay with you.

            "Tobias, tell my people on earth that I will miss them.  Explain to them why I had to stay.  Tell Jark…  Tell Jark that I love him and that I will miss him.  Tell him that I trust him to lead his people."

            Tobias ruffled his feathers in affirmation.

            I smiled sadly, wiping a tear from my eye.  Jake took my hand and squeezed it.

            May I buy your memories before we leave?

            The rest of us ignored Guide.

            Surprisingly, Rachel was the first to step forward and awkwardly hug Toby, carefully avoiding her blades so that she would not be sliced open.  The rest of us followed, bidding a bittersweet goodbye to our long-time friend.

            At last, when there was nothing more to say, all of the people leaving the Hork-Bajir homeworld stood in the door of the space ship.  Toby stood outside, surrounded by her people.

            Goodbye, Toby, Ax said.  He smiled sadly with his stalk eyes, and then turned and walked inside the ship.  The rest of us followed.

            "Make sure that you don't get these Hork-Bajir into too much trouble!" Marco called, trying to lighten up the situation.

            "I could say the same thing about you and everyone else on the ship," Toby replied.  We all laughed.  The doors closed, and Captain Miaker, Ax, Yahal, and Menderash started the engines.  The ship rose slowly rose through the air.

            The Hork-Bajir streamed from the ground and into the trees, racing up alongside us.  Toby made it to the top of the tree she climbed just a few instants before we could not longer see her.  The picture of all the free Hork-Bajir waving to us from the trees of their own world was beautiful.  It was the last time we ever saw Toby.

            I wiped another tear from my eye.  Now was not a time for crying; Toby had freely chosen to stay.  She was happy.

            I turned away from the window and looked around the different cabins.  We had another all-powerful being to defeat, somehow, and a long time before we got home.

            "So, fearless leader, do we have any plan as to what we're going to do yet?" Marco asked.

            "Do we even know what we're looking for?" Tom added.

            Jake rubbed his forehead.  "No.  No, we don't, besides going to where the Garatrons landed their ship so we can use it."

            Is that your answer to the first or second question? Tobias queried.

            "Both."

            "Crayak will be wherever violence and oppression is," Rachel offered.  "So we just go there."  One by one, we all looked at her.

            The universe is large, Rachel, Yahal said.

            "Yeah, well…"

            "She may actually have a point," I said quietly.

            "I always have a point."

            "What do you mean, Cassie?" Jeanne asked.

            "Why did Crayak feel that he had to send Drode to tell us that he was going to take over the universe now that The One was gone?  Why not just do it?  Crayak has never exactly liked us-"

            "He hates our guts," Rachel interjected.

            "I think that he may have just done that to rub salt into the wound.  He's bitter.  He isn't happy that Rachel and Jake resisted him, or that we ruined his Howlers, or that we defeated the Yeerks.  He wants to hurt us."

            "Meaning that…?" Sandra asked.

            General Doubleday snapped his fingers.  "He is going to go for the places that mean the most to us."

            "And he loves destruction," I added.  Realizing his possible motive scared me.  If he really did want to do what I thought he might want to do, then we were all in serious trouble.

            Ax, Menderash, and Yahal suddenly met my eyes.  They realized what I meant.

            "Humans are the only species known to us that war against each other to the extent that they do," said Menderash.

            "You think that he might go after earth?" General Doubleday worried.

            I bit my lip.  "All that I'm saying is that he holds a grudge against us."

            Furtive gazes passed all around.

            Whatisearth? WhydoesCrayakhateitsomuch? Bavaritun questioned.

            Jake sighed.  "Earth is our planet.  That is, the humans' planet," he corrected himself, gesturing at the humans in the group.  "Because we are from there, Crayak does not like us, and because there is a lot of war there, we are afraid that he will go after it."

            Oh. Isee.

            We are now landing at the other end of the valley where the Garatron ship is, Yahal announced.

            We landed in grim silence.  Bavaritun got off the ship, followed by Yahal, Menderash, Tom, and Jeanne.

            "We will go to earth, I guess," Jake shrugged.  "I don't know where else we could go.  Just stay close to us, and we'll stay in communication."

            Everybody nodded, and we lifted into the air, soon followed by the Garatron ship.  We were, hopefully, on our way home.


	6. Rachel

A/N:  I've been trying to update.  Really, I have.  Kind of.  I've just had a sort of lack of inspiration, and that's made it hard, and I'm sorry.  Honestly.  And, even though I know you really don't care, here are my excuses:  First and foremost, FFN is down right now.  Secondly, school is evil.  In addition to normal homework and tests and projects, since I last updated, I've had to take the PSATs (which I got a really really really good score on, so that makes me happy), and I had finals.  Evil.  I did get my grades for last semester, though, and I did really well.  Anyway, what little free time I do have is still spent working on Both Sun and Moon.  I'm also involved in tons of extracurricular activities this year, so I've been involved in Sci-Fi Club, Literary Magazine, Poetry Club, Bonsai Club, Bibliophiles Club, my church choir (which is right now busy getting ready for a mission trip we're going on next summer to Germany, Austria, and the Czech Republic), the community choir around here, voice lessons, and volunteering at a local animal shelter.  I had a concert with the community chorale, and that took up time.  I also finally started going out with the guy I've liked for nearly two and a half years.  However, there have been some problems with that because of a certain evil bitch…  Just don't even get me started.  And, I was in my play.  I was at school every day until eight at night for practice.  I was sooo busy.  My teachers were being evil and assigning sooooo much homework at the same time.  In one period, a Thursday night through a Monday night, I got fifteen hours of sleep.  Total.  I've also had inspiration for a new original novel, Time Enough to Wait, which I've already posted the first three chapters of.  If you guys were to read and review it, I would love you forever and ever and ever and ever and ever…  Finals also took up time and energy.  Then, over break, I worked on The American Animagi and Time Enough to Wait.  I also read the many awesomeness books I got for Christmas.  On New Year's, I went to Colorado for a ski trip, and so although I really did mean to write this chapter then, my dad wouldn't let me take my computer, so I couldn't.  Luckily, though, I was hit by inspiration on the bus ride back at two o'clock in the morning, and started writing the beginning, and wrote the rest yesterday and today.  So yeah, I'm trying to update, really, but it's hard.  This semester, I'm going to be in Man of la Mancha, and though my part isn't nearly as big as it was in Dark of the Moon, there will be four months of practices.  By the way, can anybody tell me why I, usually considered to be the sweet and innocent one in the group, was cast as a magical whore in the last play, and a male pimp in this one?  UGH!  So yeah, I'm going to be busy.  I'll update when I can, but it's hard.  I hate school.

Chapter 6

            So, the creep was probably after earth.  If so, he had no idea of how much of a mess he was getting into.

            Cassie and Jake looked troubled.  Even Marco's face was missing its usual cocky grin.

            "Don't worry," I laughed, appearing more assured than I felt.  "We won't let him do anything."

            "You really think so?" Sandra asked hopefully.

            I started to nod, but stopped.  No use in lying to the girl.

            No, she doesn't, Tobias clarified.  It's just the normal thing to do: Rachel acts overconfident in order to cheer up the rest of us.  You get used to it.

            "Oh," she said faintly.

            This…  Crayak will not harm our own ship, will it? Captain Miaker asked.  You have another ship now, and if he will destroy this ship, and with it, the last of the Murkra race, then I ask that you join your friends on the Garatron's ship.

            "Nobody knows what Crayak will do, okay, bud?" I exclaimed.  I didn't mean to explode like that, but I was scared.  Just as scared as everybody else, no matter what act I put on.  Perhaps even more; I wanted to go home to earth so I could see my family, the family who hadn't seen me in nearly four years.  I would like it if earth was still in one piece when I got there.

            Captain Miaker turned away, gazing disapprovingly at me with a few hundred of the eyes on his back.  He scuttled off, meeting with Raikon and Leenear, presumably to discuss what to do now that the crazy earthlings had taken control of their ship while the crazy all-powerful being hunted down them and their home.  I turned away, suddenly embarrassed at my outburst.

            Prince Jake, Ax called.  There was an odd edge to his voice.  Prince Jake.  There is an unidentified ship near the edge of our sensors.  It's approaching quite rapidly.

            Tom's voice crackled in over the speakers from the other ship.  "Are you guys seeing this thing?"

            "Yes.  Let's just hail it, figure out who they are and where they're going," Jake replied.

            "Uh, buddy?" said Marco, gazing at the sensor screen.  "You really should look at this first."

            Jake strode over to the computer screen.  "Look at what?"  He paused.  "Oh.  Crap."

            "What is it?" Cassied asked as we all crowded around the screen.

            "The ship is quite large," Menderash commented through the speakers.  "I believe it is even larger than the ship that kidnapped you, Prince Aximili.  Is that so?"

            ItisbiggerthananyGaratronships, Bavaritun volunteered.

            What species builds starships the size of planets? Tobias queried.

            From the Garatron ship, Yahal answered.

            None.

            Do you think that they would be willing to sell the secret to creating such large ships? Guide asked hopefully.

            "We should have visual confirmation in about ten seconds," said General Doubleday, calculating how long it would be for the ship to come close enough for us to get a good look.

            There was silence as we all peered through the clear windows of the bridge.  At last, a bright light shot toward us, quickly looming larger and larger, until it finally took on a shape.

            "What is that thing?" Jeanne asked in horror, looking at the huge machine.

            However, it wasn't all machine.

            "Crayak," Jake said grimly.

            As if it could hear Jake's voice, the ship turned, revealing a single, blood-red eye.  Sandra stifled a scream.  Crayak stared at the ships, evil radiating from him.  A chill went down my back.  The last time I saw him, it was horrible.  I had nearly given into him, his evil and his promises of power.  I had seen myself for who I was, and I had not liked it.  When I finally turned away from him, he had been angry.  And then I had to deal with David…

            "Nearly four years, and you're still upset about David," Crayak taunted.  "Not as strong as you seem.  Not as heartless.  Too bad, really."

            I moaned inwardly.  I so did not want to think about this.  I so did not want my friends to think about this.

            "I didn't think about it until you showed up," I shot back.  I knew that he could hear me, though walls of metal and the vacuum of space separated us.  "Besides, it's only been almost a year for me."

            "Ah, yes.  Cassie decided that she has the power to play God.  Cassie decided that she can choose who will die, and who will live.  I didn't see you trying to save those seventeen thousand Yeerks, Cassie.  Cassie, the killer with a conscience."

            The mention of the Yeerks made Jake prickle.  "Leave her alone," he commanded.  However, he only succeeded in changing Crayak's line of fire to himself.

            "And Jake.  Jake the Yeerk-Killer.  Never felt any remorse, did you?  When you watched your cousin murder your own brother in cold blood, you smiled.  That's why I still like you, Jake the Yeerk-Killer.  You don't care."

            "He does to!" Tom shouted vehemently from the other ship.  "He had to have Rachel kill me in the other timeline.  He had to."

            "He still smiled when you died."

            "Because I knew that Tom was at last free," Jake whispered.

            "And dead," Crayak returned.  "How cowardly is it to die for freedom?  Forget the glorious fight, the blood shed for freedom, when you can simply have your cousin kill you and leave you as nothing more than a memory in others minds and a faded strand of space-time?"

            "There was no other way," Tom hissed through gritted teeth.

            I felt my blood boil.  What right did this jerk have to come and remind us of memories we would rather forget, to twist them in ways that made us feel so ashamed?  To reveal our darkest secrets and fears to our friends, leaving us naked and unprotected?  Rage built up inside me toward this, this thing that was doing this to us.

            "Speaking of running away," continued Crayak, "Tobias, you weren't all that brave, either, were you?"

            My head snapped up.  "Don't you talk to him," I ordered.  "Don't you talk to him!"

            Rachel, Tobias began, but couldn't finish.  Already, Crayak had begun with his verbal assault.

            "You ran away, like a coward.  'Oh, dear, my lovely girlfriend is dead, and so I'm going to do the exact opposite of what she would have wanted me to do, and run away into the woods,'" Crayak mocked.  "Life is loss, Tobias.  If you want to continue to live, to be strong, to gain power in this universe, you have to learn to deal with loss.  You never have been able to, though, have you?  Always upset about not having parents, disappointed in your aunt and uncle's lack of care, angry when you found out that your father was murdered, murderous yourself when you learned that Loren lived so close to you your whole life, and never visited.  She shouldn't have been alive, anyway.  If she hadn't used the Time Matrix, she wouldn't be.  Elfangor never should have run away from his battle, his life.  And then you would have never been born.  You shouldn't exist, Tobias.  A freak that is not human, not Andalite, and not hawk should not exist."

            No, Tobias mumbled.

            Elfangor was trying to hide the Time Matrix, Ax opposed.  He was obeying his duty as an Andalite warrior.

            "By marrying a human girl and having a son on earth?" Crayak scoffed.  "He was a coward.  Yet his people did not seem to think so, am I right, Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill?  They made him a prince, elevated him to the position of hero, cursing his little brother to a life lived in his shadow.  But you finally outgrew that, didn't you?  At last you are considered greater than your simpering nitwit of a brother.  You are Prince Aximili, the _aristh _who singlehandedly managed to use the humans to win the war, the expert on all things human."

            I did not do it all by myself.  My friends, my people helped me.

            "Your people," Crayak scoffed.  "You have no more idea who your people are than Tobias, the multi-species freak does.  You cannot decide whether it's the people who look like you or your friends.  It's weak.  The only people who matter are those that are powerful.  Andalites, obviously, have more power than humans.  Forget them.  They are weak.  They do not care about you."

            They saved my life more times than I can count! Ax protested.

            "Only so you would help save them.  Isn't that right, Marco?  You were against getting Aximili off the bottom of the ocean to begin with.  Only after you learned that he had information that would help you did you decide to accept him."

            "There was more to it than that."

            "Oh, but everything is black and white, Marco.  Black and white and a clear, bright line from point A to point B.  Who cares who gets hurt, if the plan works?"

            "That's how I first see it, but I do care."

            Crayak laughed.  "Only if it involves your own skin, Marco.  Your own skin, or those few who you really care about.  You're lying to yourself.  That's your biggest joke.  You don't care.  Do you remember Nora, Marco?"

            "Shut up," I snapped.  Crayak was more than just grating my nerves.  I wanted him away.  Not only did I dislike him, what he was doing, but I was also afraid.  Afraid of what he might do, and how I might help him.  I was a good guy.  Really, I was.

            "I couldn't help her," Marco stated, almost as though he was more trying to convince himself, instead of Crayak.  "I couldn't."

            "But you could have, Marco.  If you had just called, right away.  You might have saved her.  But that wouldn't have suited your needs, would it?  It would have kept you from getting back your big, happy family."

            "Why are you doing this to us?" Jeanne cried.  I heard Tom trying to comfort her through the speakers.

            "You!  You just want to be a hero.  You left your life on earth so you could rescue a complete stranger.  Simply so you could be a hero.  A dead hero.  Pitiful."

            "I had no life on earth!"

            "You could have made one."

            Guide stepped forward, nervously wheezing.  Crayak, I have a business proposition for you.  Sell me your memories, or maybe even just that ship, and you can become one of the most powerful merchants in the City of Beauty!  Perhaps on the entire planet!"

            In a mixture of thoughtspeak and normal speech, all of us shouted at once, "Shut up, Guide!"

            Once again, Crayak began to laugh.  "Iskoort.  Such a weak species.  A culture based on commerce, not war.  Heartbreaking.  If it weren't for you, then the Yeerks would be-"

            He fell silent suddenly.

            "What, Crayak, upset that your little plan to keep the Yeerks from discovering that there's another way failed?" I shouted.  Finally, here was a way to get back at him.  "Well, I've got news for you:  It's your own fault.  Your Howlers were ruined because we care about each other, we love each other."  I was on a high, shouting whatever I could to hurt him.  Yelling what it was that we had that he lacked.  I was vaguely aware of everybody else's nervous, warning glances toward me.  Marco kept motioning for me to shut up.  I suppose that ticking off an all-powerful being wasn't the smartest thing to do in the world, but I couldn't help it.  He scared me, made myself scare me, and that made me mad.

            "Delusions, although they sometimes serve some wonderful purpose such as setting off wars, seem to not be doing you any favors," Crayak announced slowly.  "Because I…  care so much about you," he continued with a voice dripping of irony, "I would like to strip you of these delusions.  Remember, I'm only doing this for you."

            His laughter echoed through the universe as everything around me changed.  
  


A/N:  Once again, I'm soooooooooooo sorry that it took me so long to update.  And gyver21…  Are you serious when you say that you've read the entire trilogy nineteen times?  I'm flattered beyond all belief, if it's true…  To think that somebody would devote (does math, figuring that it take about four hours to read the entire trilogy once) over three full days of reading my stuff????  *faints at just the mere thought of it*


	7. Rachel

A/N:  Wow, I'm an idiot.  I started writing this chapter, got about halfway through, and realized that this was the sample chapter I posted in The Carried.  *hits self over head*  Please review!

Chapter 7

The entire world around me was black, pressing in. I felt like I was suffocating. 

There was no air! I clawed in front of me, trying to break through the suffocating darkness. I was shaking, unable to stand the closed in space.

I could see nothing, nothing but the darkness. The air around me was warm, moist, and heavy. It smelled sickeningly fragrant, like rotting fruit. There were no noises. The silence itself was enough to drive me insane.

Slowly I started morphing grizzly, hoping it could take care of whatever dangers lie in the darkness. I wished I could see something, but there was not a single photon of light for me to see by.

Tobias? I called out. Cassie? Jake? Marco? Ax?

No one answered.

Hello? Anybody? I asked, trying not to think of the images I was seeing of myself being buried in the darkness, suffocating, buried alive…

_Stop it_, I commanded of myself. _You won't be buried alive. You're fine._

_There's no room! I'm closed in, and the darkness is all around me! I can't get out. I can't get out_, the panicking part of myself screamed to the logical part. _Buried alive…_

And suddenly, I wasn't alone anymore.

There was a rat on the floor in front of me. It almost seemed to be putting off light, just enough so that I could see it clearly.

Hello, Rachel, it said.

I recognized that voice. I would recognize it anywhere. It was David.

About a year into the Yeerk war, a new kid found the blue morphing cube. Visser Three/One found out, and came to get it. David's house was destroyed, and his parents became Controllers. We could either leave him to become a Controller, or make him one of us. We made the wrong choice.

After he got the morphing power, David tried to betray us. First, by almost selling us out to Visser Three/One, later by trying to kill us. We finally got rid of him by trapping him in rat morph and placing him on a small, deserted, rocky island in the middle of the ocean.

David, I hissed. I reared up to my full height, hoping he could see me in the stifling darkness as I could see him. How was he here? He should have been dead…

The rat started to laugh. However, his voice did not seem like his own. It was too loud, too… surrounding.

Who are you? I demanded, afraid to hear the answer I already knew.

You don't recognize me? the rat asked. It started to change, growing, morphing rapidly. Within seconds, it had stopped changing, and my answer was confirmed.

It was Crayak.

I see that you realize who I am, now, he sneered. You should have realized that I could not be David. He's dead. Rats only live for about five years. It's already been three and a half since the war ended. Five and a half years since he became a _nothlit _as an already adult rat.

What do you want? I asked, demorphing. None of my morphs could so much as scratch him. "And why did you come, instead of sending that pile of dog poop called Drode?"

Me? I want nothing, he answered.

"Then why are you here?"

You were my favorite Animorph, Rachel, Crayak said, ignoring my last comment.

I was annoyed, to say the least. Who was he to think that he could just butt into our lives, manipulate the universe, and torture me like this? I wanted – no, needed – open air, to feel unrestricted. It unnerved me to be like this, in the dark, buried…

The One is gone, and now I can take back my galaxy. I have waited for this day for millennia. Not even that fool Ellimist can stop me now. And, because of that, I no longer must stick to the imbecilic rules of our game. I can directly interfere. And now that is what I am doing. You turned me down, Rachel, the last time we met. And I do not easily forgive such an insult.

I clenched my fists, trying to hold myself back from jumping him, an all-powerful being, as a human. What was this new game he was playing with himself?

Your cousin Jake has insulted me even more, though, Crayak whispered in as silky a tone as he could muster. I want him gone. And as much as I wish it were some other way, Rachel, you are the only one who could possibly help me. You could get rid of him for me, Rachel. I will give you some time to think about it.

With that, he disappeared, and I was left alone in the darkness.

Alone.

There were so many thoughts flying through my head. He wanted me to rid him of Jake. I couldn't do that, though. Not ever. And not even Ellimist could stop Crayak now.

Oh, and David was definitely dead. I shivered. Yes, I had hated David with a passion, but he had only been fourteen when it all happened…

How could I get back to my friends?

Where _were _my friends, anyway?

Why didn't Crayak just kill Jake himself, if he didn't have to play by the rules of Ellimist anymore?

Why was I asking myself so many rhetorical questions, anyway?

As thoughts continued to race through my head, the darkness pressed in all around me. With each passing moment in the stifling blackness, I became more terrified. I finally simply collapsed into a trembling heap on the ground.


	8. Tobias

A/N:  I'm so sorry.  I really am.  I'm just not even going to give my excuses this time, since I'm sure you guys are sick and tired of them anyway.  I'll just say that I've been insanely busy, and my muses tend to focus more on other stories these days.  But I would like to thank all of you who have stuck by this fic from the bottom of my heart.  I also want to promise you that I do not plan on becoming one of those people who never, ever finish their stories, especially after receiving a billion reviews.  I will finish this fic, even if it takes me a decade (hopefully not – I'm aiming for by Christmas).  And now that school is over, I will actually have some time to work.  Kinda.  I'm going to have a busy summer, but it won't be as bad as this entire year.  So yeah.  Please review.  Here it is.

Another A/N, added later:  Okay, so, about a week and a half ago, I learned that Echoes of the Mind, a big fan of this trilogy, passed away last November.  I had wondered where he went after he stopped reviewing, but thought that maybe he just was sick of my taking too long to update or something.  Who knows, maybe he was, since his last review was written months before he passed on.  However, those reviews he did write were always very encouraging, giving some critique but also offering ways to fix the problems, and they were funny.  I would like to dedicate this chapter and all those that follow to his memory.  He was one of my first and most devoted fans, and I will always remember his kind words.  Mike, this is for you.  May you rest in peace.

Chapter 8

            It was sick.  That's the only word I can find to describe the mess I had become.  Bird eyes, small enough for a bird, yet placed in my human face.  Stalk eyes, covered in blond hair, sprouting from my head.  Andalite ears, tufted in feathers.  Lips, but no mouth.  A nose that had melted down my face and become hard as fingernail, mixing with my top lip.  A blue tint to my human skin.  Human arms that didn't fall right, instead folding back like wings.  Seven fingers on both hands that were too long, and arched down like a bird's fingers.  An Andalite body, but subtly different.  Front legs that were those of a bird, but with hooves.  Back legs like an Andalite, but they ended in human feet, with a talon for each toe.  And I had a tail…  It was strong, fast as a whip, but tipped with nothing other than a fan of rust-colored feathers.

            Hello, Crayak, I said.  It couldn't be anybody else.

            Smart, a disembodied voice answered.  Your girlfriend seemed to think I was David.  Slowly, Crayak came into focus before me.

            Tell me what you're doing to her, or I swear-

            Now, now, Tobias, no need to get upset.

            I was silent.

            I did nothing to her that I am not doing to you.  I'm simply helped her see her as she is.

            You're sick, you know that?

            I prefer the term truthful.

            This isn't truth, I said, gesturing at my twisted body.

            It's what you are.

            Not exactly.  My body was not some perverse assortment of parts, alien and terrestrial.  I concentrated on my hawk body.  I wanted to be in my hawk body.  But nothing happened.  No changes began.  I was still as warped as before.

            You're a _nothlit_, Tobias.  You can't morph.

            I froze, then looked at the biological machine in front of me.  What?

            If Ellimist hadn't meddled in your affairs and the affairs of the Yeerks and Hork-Bajir, you wouldn't be able to morph.  I've fixed the problem.

            Before I said anything, I just started to shake.  I quivered like a baby.  And my feathers and fingers and stalk eyes shook as well.

            Oh, don't worry too much, Crayak said, his voice full of sarcasm.  It's actually better.  Now you won't ever be able to run from one of your natures like you did after Rachel died.

            I didn't run.

            Crayak laughed, and I cringed.

            This is what I mean, Crayak said.  You Animorphs are so full of delusions…

            Fine, then.  I did run.  What does it mean to you?

            I'm just trying to do a good deed.

            You've never done a good deed in your entire billion years of life.  You're sick.

            The red eye blinked.  Ouch, Tobias, that hurts.  Really, it does.  A pain, right in my heart.

            I sent a death stare at him.  Of course, I didn't need to change my human expression very much.  My hawk eyes took care of it for me.  The rules have to still apply somewhat, I said.

            Ellimist is a weakling.  He has no power over what I do and what I do not do.

            Why hasn't he at least talked to us to warn us?

            What, is Tobias the Coward wondering how he can convince kind Ellimist to make him less of a freak?

            I stamped one of my hooves and flicked my tail.  I'm wondering why he hasn't talked to us.

            You expect me to understand the workings of the simpering fool's mind?

            You have to know some of it.

            He's probably too scared to come out of hiding.

            I took a deep breath.  I don't believe you.  If he told the truth about this, maybe he also told the truth about my being unable to morph.  I had no idea what I'd do if I was stuck as this…  beast…

            Crayak fell quiet, his myriad of parts subtly shifting places until he looked even larger than before.  His red eye seemed framed by machinery, a bonfire burning on the throne of metal.

            I took another deep breath.  I think that you are just as deluded as the rest of us, Crayak.  And at least our delusions help us keep our sanity.  Yours have driven you crazy.

            But I know who I am.  You, unfortunately, Tobias, are a freak with no idea who you are.

            Well I'm sorry I haven't had a few hundred millennia to achieve self-actualization, I replied.  I couldn't believe I was saying all of this.  I almost sounded stupidly brave enough to be mistaken for Rachel.

            Crayak chortled.  It was an evil sound, the same quality that Visser Three/One or Mean Rachel had always sounded like when they laughed.  You aren't anything, he said.  Part human, part hawk, part Andalite.  But wholly nothing.  You'll never reach "self-actualization," as you call it.

            I cast my eyes down for a moment as his words sunk in.  But then I jerked my head up.  Liar.

            What?

            You say that you're trying to strip me of my delusions to help me accept myself as I am, which implies self-actualization.  But now you're saying I'll never reach it?

            There's more than one-

            No, Crayak.  You don't know what you're talking about.  I don't think this is anymore than another delusion.

            Perhaps, Crayak hissed, but you're still just a crude assembly of parts.

            He faded away, and suddenly the ship reappeared around me.  Cassie had tears streaming down her face and her arms wrapped around her.  Jake, a simple haunted look.  Rachel was a sobbing heap on the ground.  Marco was smirking, but his fists were clenched and his eyes moist.  Ax's eyes shifted around the room, and his tail twitched nervously.  Sandra, Captain Miaker, Leenear, Raikon, General Doubleday, and Guide gaped at the others.  I, however, had appeared in entrance of the tiny hallway leading into the bridge.  Because of how the shadows fell, I was fairly certain that nobody could see me.  Thank God they couldn't.  I may have returned to the ship, but my body…

            "What just happened?" Sandra asked, looking from Marco to Jake to General Doubleday.

            There was silence, and I shuffled uncomfortably.  My hooves and feet-talons clicked on the floor.

            Cassie sniffed.  "I have no idea.  It was just…  horrible…"

            Jake crossed to her and wrapped his arms around her.  I wanted to do the same to Rachel so much, but…  I twisted my head around, refusing to use my stalk eyes, and surveyed my body.  It was definitely the same twisted thing it had been while I spoke with Crayak.  I crouched further into the shadows sank to the ground.

            "You were with Crayak?" Jake asked, though it was more of a statement than a question.  Cassie nodded.

            Is everyone alright? Ax said.

            "Butthead," Marco said through gritted teeth.  A tear fell from his eye.  "He replayed scenes from right after Mom "died".  Scenes from when she was a Controller.  Told me I had to kill her."

            "God…" Rachel moaned.

            Cassie shook her head.  "No.  God doesn't have anything to do with Crayak."

            Where's Tobias?

            I paused, crouching further into the shadows, but as the others looked around with concern, I answered.  Right here.

            They stopped searching, and I took a deep breath.  Then I took a step into the room.

            A gasp, and then silence.  Rachel covered her mouth, tears streaming down her cheeks.  

            "What happened?" Marco demanded, unable to hide the disgust on his face.

            I lowered all four of my eyes, unable to bear their looks of horror, of pity.  The same looks I got when they first realized I was a hawk, but now they were so much worse.

            Crayak.

            Tobias, I- Ax began.

            I shook my head.  I didn't want to hear their apologies.  I didn't want to be near them.  I didn't want to see the looks on their faces that made my new body so real.  Don't.  Just don't say anything.  

I crossed over to Rachel, the silence in the room pressing in around me.  Awkwardly I maneuvered my hand around to reach her, to hopefully offer some comfort to both her and myself.

She shrunk away.

"You can't change back?"  Jake.

I jerked my head away.  Don't you think I already would have?

I retracted my arm, looked once more back at Rachel, the others, their horrified stares ripping straight to my freakish heart.  I turned and bolted from the room.

A/N:  I'll love you forever if you R/R!  :-P


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